2.

The viewers were also momentarily stunned by the sudden development.

—What the? How is this happening?

—Out of nowhere?

People who weren't watching from Kim Buja's perspective—no, even the players watching from his perspective—found it hard to recognize that this series of events was caused by Kim Buja.

The hologram didn't kindly inform them that the field boss had been resurrected as an undead by a skill. Instead, they only began to understand the situation little by little as they watched Kim Buja draw his sword and rush toward Fly.

—Is it for real now?

—This is the right move, though.

Perhaps it was a natural sequence.

This game, this event, wasn't about players representing the whole world gathering to catch the summoned field boss together with laughter and overflowing cooperation. One had to become the last player standing.

In such a situation, an opportunity arose to catch a competitor who would be the last player right in front of Buja.

'It won't work because it's Fly.'

That was a nonsensical thought.

People applauded Kim Buja's action of immediately drawing his sword and rushing in. It was bold and daring. They could feel that it wasn't a reckless move as they watched Fly being pushed back while counterattacking.

—Wow, he might actually get him?

—That low-level Elemental Wizard is weak in melee. If he were high-level, this scene wouldn't even be possible.

In reality, Fly was experiencing difficulties. Of course, it was largely due to the confusion about the incomprehensible situation.

Kim Buja didn't miss the opportunity. He swung his sword and casually threw out bait.

"This event is great. Skills drop from elite monsters, too. If it were reality, I wouldn't have been able to revive a guy like a field boss as an undead even with a skill like that."

Fly was speechless.

It wasn't a situation where he needed to make excuses. However, giving the opponent a lot to think about meant preventing them from focusing on the current situation, so he just threw out whatever words came to mind.

Fly, who had noticeably retreated at every strike, eventually chose to flee.

Whatever the reason, whatever the situation, the important thing was that if he died now, the event was over. It wasn't too late to resolve doubts later.

Fly flashed and moved far away in an instant, then ran.

Kim Buja didn't bother to chase.

"As expected, he has that kind of magic."

Whether it was magic he originally possessed or something he farmed from Hunting Island, there was no need to chase when he didn't know if Fly could use it again.

He didn't have the confidence to catch him either.

Since he had made an escape route, Fly must have spoken confidently among the nearly thirty players, even though he wasn't his original level 69 character. Buja decided to be satisfied with the fact that there was still an overwhelming gap enough to suppress him, and that he had learned one of Fly's unrevealed skills.

He hadn't come with the thought of catching Fly at this field boss anyway. If an opportunity came next time, he would design it so Fly couldn't escape and catch him then.

For now, there were prey scattered everywhere that he could eat without chasing them.

He joined the undead field boss, which was diligently chasing presences and slaughtering players, and began hunting the fleeing players.

There was no fierce resistance or unexpected counterattacks.

They might be players representing each country in reality, but to Kim Buja, who utilized overwhelming levels, items, and even the power of the field boss, the remaining fewer than twenty players were merely weak, newly awakened lambs.

Stab, slash.

For the players busy running away, that alone produced sufficient results.

[Your (temporary) level has risen.]

Behind the holograms that appeared after catching the field boss, more holograms piled up, waiting for their turn.

When things were roughly organized and he had some breathing room, Kim Buja moved without hesitation.

"Let's go catch the next boss."

He had a strong will to extract every bit of value from the field boss, whom he luckily revived with only 23 gold! The path leading to the level 13 field boss's location felt reassuring.

* * *

Fly hid and frowned deeply.

"What happened?"

The situation, still incomprehensible, tangled up all the plans in his head.

It was inevitable. A sight that shattered the common sense he knew was a problem difficult to overlook.

How Kim Buja used the skill wasn't important. Undead Summon wasn't a very rare skill, nor was it Fly's unique skill. Moreover, it was a skill he hadn't revealed to anyone yet, not even the most important people.

Even Fly couldn't easily think that his skill had been found out and copied.

However, for him, who knew the Undead Summon skill well, the fact that a field boss was summoned as an undead was a huge shock.

"A field boss can be summoned as an undead?"

Common sense dictated that if such a thing were possible, Fly would have made a name for himself as a Warlock, not an Elemental Wizard, a long time ago. If he could create an undead army composed of elite monsters in a dungeon to hunt the boss monster, there would be no hunting more comfortable than that.

It wasn't impossible. However, monsters also had ranks.

Just summoning a regular monster as an undead versus summoning an elite monster, which was one step higher, required an indescribably large amount of mana. Even at level 69, Fly found it difficult to maintain the summons of three or more.

But Buja summoned a field boss, a monster possessing that level of power, as an undead.

"How?"

There was only one answer that came to mind. The words Kim Buja muttered to himself.

The special characteristic of Hunting Island.

He didn't want to believe it, but it was time to admit it. And he had to accept it.

"There is a chance."

Such a skill wouldn't be valid throughout the entire event period. Fly just had to grow more, farm, and acquire such skills himself.

Having reached a conclusion, Fly moved again.

3.

Kim Buja picked up the pace.

"Since he might awaken like a lunatic and chase after me, I have to make it so he can't follow at all."

He could say he lived off his talent too, but looking at objective indicators or what had been achieved, he couldn't catch up to Fly.

Even in the battle they just faced, the wizard did his best despite the disadvantageous conditions of giving up distance, and even managed to time his escape. If they fought like this, he didn't think he would lose, but if Fly, the number-one-ranked player who maintained overwhelming growth, set his mind to it and started growing on the event island, this gap might be closed in no time.

And the attacks poured out by him, armed with all sorts of magic, would be cast with a different feeling than now.

So he had to step on it. He had to run without brakes.

If the opponent showed insane growth, Kim Buja just had to trample him with something even more insane.

Fortunately, this space had conditions that were very well created for doing so.

In a way, to the spectators or the players directly participating in the event, Kim Buja might look like an insurmountable wall, even to Fly. No, it wasn't that he might be, but that he inevitably was.

In a place where players' greatest powers were restricted under the name of an event, Gold Maker exerted the greatest power.

The starting line itself was different. The number of shackles binding them was different.

To put it nicely, it was a regional specialty; to put it badly, it was a bubble. Once the event ended and he left, he would fall back to being just a rising rookie making a name for himself in 1-star dungeons, unable to show this kind of power anywhere else.

But it didn't matter. He just needed to show it to the frontrunners who had widened the gap of five years.

"I'll catch up soon."

'Be more tense and strive harder. The moment you catch your breath even a little, I will be right behind you,' Buja told himself.

Even if he couldn't actually catch up that fast, just planting that thought would make him a very excellent pacemaker. The same went for the players at a lower level than him.

That was why he used it unsparingly.

[Potential Awakening Potion]

▶ Grade: Unique

▶ Upon consumption, all stats x2 for 300 seconds.

▷ Medicine sold by a wandering alchemist. 300 seconds after consumption, all stats permanently decrease by 200%.

Despite being a drug where the side effect was practically telling you to eat it and die, it was a Unique grade and cost 200 gold. An amount that required clearing three to four Unique-grade dungeons.

On top of that, it was single-use.

At first, he wondered if they put this up expecting someone to actually eat it, but, faced with this situation, its use became clear.

"Hey, cesspit, eat this!"

"Groooaaar."

If not now, when would he use it?

The lump of filth, whose mouth was indistinguishable from the rest of it, snatched up the thrown potion and swallowed it.

"It looks kind of cute in a way."

The lump of filth, which didn't look cute from any angle, looked cute solely because it had become his pet.

At the same time, the potion's effect must have activated, as the lump of filth roared.

The level 13 field boss raged roughly at the lump of filth that dared to invade its territory and even roared in front of it despite being weak.

It wasn't enough to just get angry, and so it charged.

Slam!

The fight between the two field bosses began.

* * *

People commented.

—This event is truly legendary.

It was true in many ways.

For the players, the event held profound significance; it marked the end of the tutorial and contained hints and expectations for what the future held.

For non-players, this annual spectacle was unlike anything they had seen before. It was conducted on such a lavish scale that all previous events seemed like mere rehearsals in comparison.

Of course, that didn't mean the previous events were crude or lacking.

Even people who had no interest in dungeons or players had always enjoyed watching the annual events. That was why they were successful, and why players risked their lives to represent their country.

It was simply that this event was on an entirely different level of opulence.

And this was despite the fact that only the individual tournament had just begun.

From the moment the optimal spectating system was introduced on opening day, the difference was clear. Intense visual effects were bound to leave a strong impression on people. Whether that positive image would continue to amplify depended entirely on how well the entertainment value was maintained.

The individual tournament was filled with anticipation.

The audience was captivated by the map called Hunting Island and applauded the unfolding aspects of the game.

They praised the unpredictable variables of blessings and curses as elements that stoked interest, even though they involved the probability mechanics that gamers usually loathed. As viewers watched people get sent flying by the field boss on the second day, they tore into fried chicken, delighted that it didn't look like a boring game where monsters simply vanished as a meal of experience points for the players.

Then, the moment they saw Kim Buja bring down a giant mass of filth, resurrect it as an undead, and use it to attack other players, they all shouted in unison.

—I took the day off work!

—I'm closing up shop early. I'm just going to watch this for the rest of the month. This is pure gold.

A fight between a field boss and a field boss.

Where else could you see such a spectacle? The atmosphere of the individual tournament was heating up more and more.

* * *

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